A $60 eye exam revealed swelling in the optic nerves that got me a referral an eye specialist, the eye specialist then told me I most likely have high pressure cerebral fluid that is causing the swelling and need a CAT scan to look for brain tumors, no brain tumors were found ....... but the cerebral fluid must be drained to prevent continuous swelling of the optic nerves that will cause separation & blindness.
The CAT scan cost me $1,000
The cerebral fluid draining cost me $1,700
The cerebral fluid draining required a large needle to puncture through the lumbar area into my lower spinal cords, as the lumbar area does not have 1 solid nerve as the upper portion, it is basically like spaghetti so there is NO risk of paralysis when done by professionals with a live X-ray machine to line up the needle between vertebra for safe insertion.
I don't know what measurement scale they used, but the pressure reading was above 40+
They told me normal pressure should be between 8 and 12
They then drained the pressure to about 18
As I was walking out of the hospital, I had never in my life had such extreme mental clarity and excellent vision.
Shortly afterwards, I noticed that my normal clumsiness was gone that I had dealt with all my life.
Reading
Math
Memory
Physical agility
Strength
Desire
Aggressiveness
too many to list

As I know all my life I was menaly slower than average until that procedure.
It has been 1 1/2 years since then, and starting 2 months ago I noticed diminished capacity slowly creeping up as before, as I probably need the procedure done again and don't have the money to do it.
I realized that if this high cerebral pressure would have been detected as a child, I could have gotten a better education if it had been corrected.
Please excuse my lack of proper spelling & grammar, just thought to post this as it may help someone else that may lead them in the right direction to solve their problem.

It's hard to believe no one looked at your retinas all that time and recognized the signs. Some medications, like those used to treat acne (Tetracycline type) can cause this problem, so if you are on any meds, I would check the side effect profile carefully for pseudotumor cerebri, increased intracranial pressure or papilledema (swelling of optic nerve). If this keeps recurring, a permanent shunt can be put in to slowly drain the fluid into the bloodstream to prevent the pressure from going back up. I would talk to your neurologist ASAP about getting the procedure done again. He may do it at a discount this time if you have no insurance, especially knowing how much it helped you. Thanks for sharing your story!

I went through this as a young teen maybe 12-13 it was the worst experience ever! 25 spinal taps later and 2 weeks in the hospital they finally got my pressure normal... Here it is almost 23 years later and I am experiencing the same symptoms.. Extreme headaches, loss of vision, dizziness, naseaua almost to the point of vomiting. Not to mention eye pain and elevated eye pressure. Last time the eye dr was able to see damage in my eyes, not this time. Awaiting nureologist app Monday. It can't come soon enough! I remember the feeling as if it was yesterday...

I went through this as a young teen maybe 12-13 it was the worst experience ever! 25 spinal taps later and 2 weeks in the hospital they finally got my pressure normal... Here it is almost 23 years later and I am experiencing the same symptoms.. Extreme headaches, loss of vision, dizziness, naseaua almost to the point of vomiting. Not to mention eye pain and elevated eye pressure. Last time the eye dr was able to see damage in my eyes, not this time. Awaiting nureologist app Monday. It can't come soon enough! I remember the feeling as if it was yesterday...

Good advice given to me by a doctor in this field that rode in my Taxi, he said due to the extreme seriousness of my condition, don't use health insurance.
I asked why, I can't afford this.
He said: The health insurance companies screw us on the bill & thus we lose money or break even sometimes, this is demoralizing to a point that makes us not give a **** about our patients well being or recovery thus compromising YOUR health in the end, pay with CASH up front and you will always receive TOP priority, the doctor knows if he fails ....... you won't be able to pay him again if your unable to earn money, he said don't do the shunt, its a risk of infection.